Reid Contributor Hopes to Toss Remaining Campaign Finance Limits

A man convicted of making illegal campaign contributions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would like to make a nightmare of one of the Nevada Democrat’s top lieutenants come true — by eliminating all campaign contribution limits.

Senate Rules Chairman Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., reacted to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in McCutcheon v. FEC, tossing aggregate campaign contribution limits by telling reporters “the implications of this particular decision are significant but not huge, but the direction that the court is heading in is just dramatic and just dark.”

Schumer expressed a view that, in essence, the only thing keeping the Supreme Court from tossing the caps on individual contributions to candidates was that they fell outside the scope of the McCutcheon case.

In a bit of irony perhaps, the same day that the Supreme Court issued the decision in the McCutcheon case, attorneys for Nevada developer and lobbyist Harvey Whittemore filed an appellate brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of the Appeals, seeking to overturn a federal conviction on illegal campaign contributions. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that Wednesday was the deadline for Whittemore’s filing.

Whittemore was convicted last year on charges stemming from using straw intermediaries to get around the individual contribution limit of $4,600 in effect in 2007, for contributions to Reid’s campaign.

Among other arguments, Whittemore’s lawyers are contending on appeal that individual limits run afoul of free speech protections in the First Amendment, arguing that the ruling in the Citizens United case allowing unlimited super PAC contributions rendered moot the “legitimate interest” of individual limits in the Supreme Court finding in the landmark Buckley v. Valeo case.

If Whittemore’s case gets to the Supreme Court, it could provide the justices with an opportunity to strike down the remaining individual contribution limits.

Whittemore’s brief contends:

The only distinction between these two contributions is the identity of the candidate supported. The first candidate has a Super PAC, the second does not. The identity of the candidate and the positions supported by that candidate speech embodied by the donations themselves. Allowing unlimited donations to a Super PAC while restricting the identical political speech made by individuals that support a candidate without a Super PAC, which is made in the same fashion (the donation of money) with the same objective (the election of a candidate), serves to enhance, rather than curtail, the specter of corruption surrounding federal elections. By treating different candidates and their supporters unequally, the law in its current form empowers the executive branch to criminalize one form of speech, such as that allegedly attributable to Mr. Whittemore, while immunizing functionally identical speech from prosecution.

He’s in jail, the Supremes will laugh his case right out the door.
HAHAHAHAHA~

Beeker

You forget one thing, SCOTUS can rule on a matter then remand the matter to the lower court in light of the recent ruling. The lower courts can either toss the case out or keep the decision.

Haley Schmitterbach

While collectivism is about forcing people to become equal, the individualist philosophy understands that morality, liberty, and prosperity are associated with treating people equally.

Socialism is Organized Evil

Certainly, centralized control, abolition of private property, or both, are the most effective ways to force people to chase collectivist illusions such as “social justice” and “equality of condition”.

Rod Dainjer

Although democratic processes and collectivism both offer equality, democratic processes tend to offer equality of liberty while socialism offers equality of servitude.

Yonatan YONATAN

MORE THAN FIVE MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE MORE THAN 2.6 MILLION OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS HAVE BEEN WITHOUT AN EXTENSION OF BENEFITS. THE REPUBLICAN SENATE HAS FAILED THESE FAMILIES MISERABLY. WHILE BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES PLAYED “PARTY POLITICS”, MILLIONS HAVE LOSS THEIR HOMES, AND ARE HOMELESS. THE REPUBLICANS LIKE JOHN BOEHNER HAVE HELD THE EXTENSION BILL “HOSTAGE” IN THE SENATE, FOR POLITICAL LEVERAGE, AND HIS PARTY’S AGENDA. WHILE THE SENATE TOOK BREAK AFTER BREAK, FAMILIES WERE BEING FINANCIALLY DESTROYED. MANY MIGHT NEVER FULLY RECOVER. THE REPUBLICANS INTENTIONALLY DELAYED THE VOTE, SO THAT IT WOULD BECOME TOO LATE TO BE PASSED. THESE FAMILIES WILL NOT FORGET THE LACK OF COMPASSION AND OF COMMON DECENCY SHOWN TO THEM. THEY WILL RESPOND IN KIND IN THE COMING ELECTIONS WITH THEIR VOTE. OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE PROVEN TO BE UNWORTHY OF OFFICE, AND NEED TO BE REPLACED,

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About #WGDB

Niels Lesniewski has covered the Senate for CQ Roll Call since January 2010, and more recently as a staff writer and resident procedure guru for Roll Call. Niels holds degrees in both government and theater but sometimes can't tell the difference between the two. @nielslesniewski